New mask. Same podcast. MCU Diaries breaks down what matters in the MCU—why it works, why it doesn’t, and how it all points to Doomsday and Secret Wars.
The MCU Diaries is Blake Larsen’s craft-first Marvel podcast and essay series for fans who love the MCU but want more than recap, lore-dumping, cameo hunting or empty hype.
This is Mary & Blake’s front door for Marvel storycraft, Avengers: Doomsday, Secret Wars and the Multiverse Saga — including Doctor Doom, incursions, anchor beings, Loki, Spider-Man, Deadpool & Wolverine, Doctor Strange and the story choices that actually matter.
The Road To Doomsday
The MCU is moving toward Doctor Doom, collapsing realities and Secret Wars. Our job is not simply to predict who walks through which portal. We want to understand the argument underneath it: what happens when heroes who refuse to sacrifice the people they love are confronted with a crisis where reality itself appears to demand a cost?
That is the story we are tracking now.
If you are trying to understand where Marvel is heading next, these are the pieces I would start with.
The MCU Diaries
Each MCU Diaries episode is basically an essay you can listen to: Marvel storycraft, character pressure, theme, structure, consequence and whatever ridiculous rabbit hole Blake has decided deserves several thousand words this week.
Doctor Doom is not interesting because he is powerful. He is interesting because he believes he is right. The best version of Avengers: Doomsday does not simply give the Avengers another opponent they have to punch harder. Doom should attack the beliefs that make these heroes who they are.
That is why we are tracking the road to Doomsday through moral debt, control, incursions, alternate realities and the impossible choices Marvel has been quietly priming across the Multiverse Saga.
New · The Doomsday Assignment
Marvel’s official Doomsday watchlist runs from X-Men and The Avengers through Loki, No Way Home, Deadpool & Wolverine, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. We think the choices reveal more than which characters matter.
They appear to be priming the beliefs, relationships, rules and unresolved costs Doctor Doom can attack.
The MCU’s multiverse only matters if it creates pressure. Anchor beings, incursions, variants, timelines, the TVA and the Sacred Timeline are not interesting simply because Marvel gave them names. They are story rules, and good story rules eventually force somebody to choose.
Secret Wars should not be cameo bingo. It should be the point where Marvel’s multiverse chaos finally costs something.
The story becomes interesting when broken worlds, Doctor Doom, Loki’s burden and collapsing realities force heroes to decide whether saving existence gives them permission to choose who gets sacrificed.
What Is Secret Wars?
Why the multiverse needs to become Marvel’s moral engine. →
Secret Wars Explained Through Loki
How Loki Season 1 begins building the MCU’s multiverse engine. →
Listen: What Secret Wars Really Is
The MCU Diaries podcast version of our Secret Wars argument. →
Not everything has to be about the fate of the multiverse. Some of our favorite MCU Diaries pieces take one scene, relationship or craft choice and ask why it works — or why it absolutely does not.
The MCU Diaries Rule
A portal opening is not automatically a story. A familiar face is not automatically a payoff. Lore is useful only when it creates pressure on somebody we care about.
The bigger Marvel’s movies become, the more important character becomes.
The Deeper Room
Support Mary & Blake and join us for bonus podcasts, deeper story analysis, community conversation and all the extra nonsense we keep making because apparently we do not know how to behave.
MCU Diaries is an unofficial fan podcast and essay series from Mary & Blake Media. We are not affiliated with Marvel Studios, Disney, or the Marvel productions.
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: episode 1.02 – The Star Spangled Man.
Blake discusses what it means to be “Captain America”, emotional validation versus choosing what’s right, and why there is no chance John Walker remains Cap beyond this series…
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats the season 1 premiere of The Falcon And The Winter Solider — episode 1.01″New World Order”.
Blake discusses how TFWTS echoes previous MCU films, our characters defining their purpose in new world, excellent direction in the therapy session, and why the episode begins and ends with “Captain America”…
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen wraps up the entire first season of WandaVision with help from special guest Mary Larsen…
Mary and Blake break down the entire WandaVision season, our favorite moments, best characters, worst moments, how it affects the MCU, and much more…
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats the season 1 finale of WandaVision — episode – 1.09″The Series Finale”.
Blake discusses why “The Series Finale” is a deeply satisfying conclusion to the operative theme of the story and it shows the viewer that not all good things must end. Rather, they must transform.
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats the penultimate WandaVision episode – 1.08 “Previously On”.
Blake discusses how the penultimate episode of WandaVision serves as an exercise in Wanda’s fragile psychology while also exhibiting a magnificent balance of exposition, plot, and character.
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats WandaVision episode 1.07 “Breaking The Fourth Wall”.
Blake discusses how the this episode drops a major MCU bomb on us, but keeps laser focus on its main character while warning us to be careful what you wish for.
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats WandaVision episode 1.06 “All-New Halloween Spooktacular”.
Blake discusses how this Malcom In The Middle version of WandaVision is a creepy experiment framed by an existential crisis where the devil’s in the details.
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats WandaVision episode 1.05 “On A Very Special Episode”.
Blake discusses WandaVision going full 80’s and why we are forced to ask ourselves, who is the real villain here and what is the cost of lies?
The MCU Diaries Host Blake Larsen chats WandaVision episode 1.04 “We Interrupt This Program”.
Blake discusses how this episode reminds us there’s a big vast world which keeps spinning outside Wanda’s sitcom bubble and connecting the two is a very hard job…
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
iHeartRadio
Spotify